Legit Power Supply Reviews

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 Platinum 650W Power Supply Review

Manufacturer: Antec Inc.
Product: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 Platinum
Date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Emmanouil Filladitakis -
Share:

Testing results (Efficiency, Noise & Thermal)

The Earthwatts Platinum unit reaches up to a breathtaking 93.6%/94.4% when powered from an 110VAC/230VAC power source respectively, although the efficiency does drop significantly when the unit is heavily or lightly loaded, grazing the 80Plus Platinum certification limits. Another interesting fact regarding the behavior of the Earthwatts Platinum unit is that it appears to be more efficient when it is being powered by an 110VAC source while the unit remains lightly loaded, a behavior which is frequently the case with ACRF topologies.

Bearing in mind its very high efficiency and average power rating, we expected the thermal performance of the Earthwatts Platinum unit to be exceptional and we were not disappointed, yet not thrilled either. The Earthwatts Platinum 650W unit does run very cool with a maximum temperature delta of 10.2°C, which by all means is a great performance figure, yet not out of reach of other units with inferior efficiency certifications.

From the recorded noise levels an adept user can easily understand that Antec preferred to sacrifice a small level of thermal performance in order to achieve exceptionally low acoustics. Truly, the Antec Earthwatts Platinum 650W unit is entirely silent up to 70% load. Only at 80% load the noise level becomes discernible from very short distances. The unit needs to run at maximum load for at least 6-8 minutes for the fan's noise to become clearly noticeable from a reasonable distance. 

Next Page - Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W PSU Conclusion


Review Index
Page 1 - Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W PSU
Page 2 - Unboxing the power supply
Page 3 - External Design
Page 4 - A look inside
Page 5 - Test Setup
Page 6 - Testing results (Regulation & Ripple)
Page 7 - Testing results (Efficiency, Noise & Thermal)
Page 8 - Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W PSU Conclusion